Comments (26)

By kilax, December 31, 2009 5:33 am

We all want to know – how much exercise do we really need each week? How little can we get away with?

There was an interesting (although VERY confusing) article on the Well blog covering this topic yesterday.  The article stemmed from a study done in Scotland that concluded you only need 20 minutes of exercise a week to increase your contentment. Okay, but how much do you need to be healthy?

That’s more difficult to define. The article went into a discussion about “MET” minutes, which are “Metabolic Equivalent of Task” minutes. Huh? Apparently  you need 500 of those as week, and they vary based on what you are doing for exercise and how intense it is. For example, running at 6 mph is a 10-MET activity. So if you run for 60 minutes, that is 600 MET minutes. So, you’re done for the week then? Confusing…

Has anyone heard of this MET mumbo-jumbo before? How do you decide how much to exercise a week? Do you have any exercise goals for 2010?

I aim for at least 30 minutes a day, but usually go by how I feel. If I am in the groove, I will keep going! If I feel like crap, I won’t work out at all.

A few other interesting points from the article (repetitive, but interesting):

According to the Physical Activity Guidelines report, “It has been estimated that people who are physically active for approximately seven hours a week have a 40 percent lower risk of dying early than those who are active for less than 30 minutes a week.”

Interestingly, they did not find that exercise beyond a certain point conferred significant additional health benefits. Instead, the “dose response” for exercise, the committee found, is “curvilinear.” In other words, people who are the least active to start with get the most health benefit from starting to exercise. People who already are fit don’t necessarily get a big additional health benefit from adding more workout time to their regimens.

You do not necessarily have to divide your exercise time into daily allotments, either. Existing “scientific evidence does not allow researchers to say, for example, whether the health benefits of 30 minutes on five days a week are any different from the health benefits of 50 minutes on three days a week,” according to the activity guidelines. Do what suits your schedule.

Meme time! Leah, Gelareh and Holly have all tagged me for the “7 Random Things About Me” meme. Thanks, ladies! Click “more” to read on…

And of course, Happy New Years Eve! Enjoy your evening and be safe!

Continue reading 'How little exercise can you get away with? / 7 Random Things About Me meme'»

Comments (13)

By kilax, July 28, 2008 5:45 am

Do you “save” stories for people you don’t see very often? Every once in awhile, I experience something/see something/etc., that makes me think of a specific person. For example, the event might pertain to a certain interest of theirs, or maybe contain a hint of irony that only they would understand. It’s one of those situations when you think, ”Oh, I’ve got to tell ‘so-and-so’ about this. They sure are going to get a kick out of it.’ “

I’ve saved a lot of stories for someone I’ll never be able to tell them to – my uncle Tom, who passed away just over two years ago.

He was really excited that I was going to be living in Rome for a semester. We stayed in touch via email and postcards while I was there, and I think he even read my website.

But there were things I couldn’t explain in emails, postcards, or on my website. There were things I wanted to tell him, specifically, about in person. Things I knew he would find humorous. Things I knew he could relate to.

And I’ve saved more stories for him since then. But what am I supposed to do with them now? All they do it keep me up at night, when I’m thinking about how I never had the chance to share them.

Comments (18)

By kilax, July 7, 2008 6:02 am

What are you supposed to say to a friend when they tell you they are in so much physical pain they understood why some people end their lives?

My friend Rixa (a 71-year old German woman who lives in Italy) called me this weekend. I met her when I lived in Rome, and I still write to her twice a month, and she calls me every 3 or 4 months.

During this call, she told me about a slew of bad things that happened to her last year that I didn’t even know about. She got hit by a car. Burglars broke into her home while she was there. Then she was in so much pain all the time, and couldn’t walk well or go to the bathroom, that she thought about ending her life, but wondered who would take care of her cats (please, no crazy cat lady jokes).

She had an operation near the end of June that she just now came home from, and has to rest for three weeks. She said she already feels better, which she can’t believe – she was in so much pain she thought it would never end.

She’s a very serious woman. It actually took me awhile to find out what made her smile (and laugh!) but after that, we became very close. It makes me feel awful to know she was in so much pain, and I didn’t even know about it. But what could I have done? She is not the type to want help from anyone else.

She was happy to be receiving my letters at least.

Comments (14)

By kilax, January 10, 2008 5:43 am

How do you deal with the declining health of a loved one?

It’s so easy to start to shut someone out as their health declines. At first, you are trying not to be bothersome to them, so you leave them alone, or only make small talk when you visit.

This becomes habitual though, until you have a completely different version of yourself that you present to the ill person. You are cautious, you are careful, you are worried… and eventually you are acting distant towards the person without even realizing it. You start to seclude them, which isn’t good for anyone, ill or not.

Of course, I am speaking of a specific circumstance, but perhaps you can relate.

My grandfather has Lewy Body Dementia. Honestly, I am not sure how long he has had it, but I am old enough to have witnessed the decline in his health.

God, it scares me.

He has had an up and down battle. He was well, then he got shingles. He got better, then he broke his hip. He had to spend months in a nursing home, because my grandma could not take care of him on her own. He’s finally home again.

But the disease is not physical! It affects his alertness, his memory, his speech. It’s so frightening to see this happen to someone I love so much.

There have been times when I visited him and he thought he saw things that weren’t there, or said things that didn’t make any sense. Then there are times (like last weekend in Iowa) when he is the sharp and clever grandpa I remember. I can say “Grandpa, remember when…?” And he responds, “Yes, I do!”

It just feels so tense to me when we (my family) are all around him. Some of us don’t know how to act. Some of us are too nervous to say anything. Some of us are completely at ease.

I try to act myself, be normal, and tell my “funny” stories (my grandparents humor me), but it is so easy to avoid topics that you think might be upsetting or confusing. And then you are starting to shut someone out.

I feel so bad for not being able to spend more time with my grandparents.

Comments (7)

By kilax, November 21, 2007 5:30 am

Surprise surprise… I am getting tired of hearing/reading about Drew Peterson, his missing wife, his deceased wife, his other two wives, and whether or not he has killed any of them.

In case you are unfamiliar with the story, Drew Peterson is a police sergeant living in a Chicago suburb. His fourth wife – Stacy, younger than him by 30 years – disappeared October 30th and still hasn’t been found. His third wife was found dead in a dry bathtub in 2004. His second wife says he was abusive and told her he could “kill her and make it look like an accident,” but his first wife says “he wasn’t controlling.” He cheated on wives 1-3.

While we were in Aruba I thought about this story and hoped it would be “solved” before we returned, but I only found out that it has gone global. It seems like the media coverage is spinning out of control. It kind of makes me feel sick to read about it everyday.

Everyone seems to have an opinion about it. What’s yours?